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Quade hails Reds' Super 100m team try

Jim Morton

Many Super Rugby pundits are calling it the try of the year - a sweeping 100m effort that Quade Cooper believes is the best in his seven seasons with Queensland.

The Reds produced their most dominant half of rugby since their 2011 title triumph in Friday night's 32-17 victory over the Sharks, highlighted by Rod Davies' exhilarating 15th-minute try.

It started with a successful defence of the Sharks' lethal driving maul before a forced turnover led to Will Genia and Cooper spreading it wide across their goal-line for Chris Feauai-Sautia and Digby Ioane to sprint clear 70m.

Trailing in support, Genia then audaciously popped the ball on his non-dominant left foot for a cross-field grubber to the blazing Davies to score in the opposite corner.

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It had the 31,921-strong crowd in raptures as they celebrated a much-wished-for return of the Reds' razzle-dazzle.

Gifted playmaker Cooper had been the pivotal figure of an array of stunning tries in 2010 and 2011, many against South African teams, but he felt Davies' five-pointer took the cake.

"I definitely thought it was the best try in my time here," he said.

"We scored some good tries in South Africa in 2010 and 2011 but, from a team try to go right from our tryline and go through the set of hands that we did and then finish it off like that, it was great.

"And it was good to have the crowd on their feet enjoying it.

"Those are the things you look back on on Monday when you get back to work, and you have that great feeling and you just want to get back on the field."

On Monday, the Reds will be in South Africa preparing for two crunch clashes against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein (May 19) and Stormers in Cape Town (May 26).

They are 6-0 against overseas rivals this year and hope to keep up that record to push past the table-topping Brumbies.

"That's a great stat and that will give us confidence," said in-form flanker Liam Gill, who was replaced at 29-3 up at halftime with a minor corked thigh.

Gill also described the hoodoo-busting victory over the Sharks as a massive boost heading to the Republic, where they can use a similar attacking blueprint against the Cheetahs.

"The Sharks are a very mobile pack and our job was to outrun them and outwork them and it really did show in the first 40 minutes and I think we got off to a monster start," he said.